Police believe Robert L. Clark shot and killed his 6-year-old grandson Sunday in a fit of rage over a dropped watermelon.

Michael Levigne, a kindergarten student at Commerce Primary School was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest in the Troy Street, Commerce, home of his grandparents. Police say Clark shot his wife, Linda Dale Clarke, 58, multiple times in the chest/stomach area before he himself was shot by police officers after he fired a weapon at them.

Two Commerce officers are on paid administrative leave pending a Georgia Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the shooting. Jackson County deputies, a Pendergrass police officer and an officer with the Georgia State Patrol all fired their weapons at Clark.

Both Clark and Mrs. Clark were transported by helicopter to Grady Memorial Hospital. As of Monday afternoon, neither had recovered to the point where the GBI could interview them about the incident, Knight said.

“This is clearly a very tragic incident for this community,” said police chief John Gaissert. “It was very troubling for everyone who was involved.
Detective Chad Knight concurred.

“They’re (local officers) taking it rough, not so much of being in the shooting, but of seeing the child,” Knight said. “Most of them have children. A lot of these people don’t realize that for all of us it’s tough. There were several of us who broke down because it was a child.”

Knight confirmed reports that police were told the incident started when Michael dropped a watermelon, although he was not sure whether that information came during the 911 call or from interviews with the other child on the scene at the time.

The incident occurred at about 1:00 Sunday afternoon. Twenty minutes later, it was all over, but officials are still trying to piece together what happened and why.

According to Knight, Mrs. Clark called 911, and the call was dispatched as “gunshots with a barricaded suspect in the house.”

Knight said a Commerce officer was patched through to Mrs. Clark by 911 and talked Clark into releasing a 5-year-old boy who was unharmed but who had witnessed the shooting, and to allow his wife to leave.

“He let the child out and a Jackson County deputy scooped him up and got him to safety,” Knight said. “Then the woman came out and one of our officers picked her up and they got her to an ambulance.”

The standoff ended when Clark came to the door, refused repeated demands that he drop his weapon “and the situation was such that police responded with deadly force,” said Gaissert.

Police had been to the residence at 228 Troy Street in the past. Knight said a number of calls came to 911 from the house over the past year, a lot of them hang-ups. Neighbors told police that Clark was prone to anger and cursing at and in front of his grandsons.

“I would characterize the family dynamic as dysfunctional,” Gaissert commented.

Officials are working with the Department of Family and Children services to understand why the children were in the custody of their grandparents, but Knight said he did not expect that to be a factor in the case. Knight said Clark had purchased a gun from a dealer in 2008 — an indication he did not have a criminal record.

Knight said the department has “had dealings with” child’s father, Andrew Levigne, in the past. Officials have spoken with Levigne, but as of Monday afternoon had not spoken with the boy’s mother, Crystal Levigne.

Clark will be charged with murder, aggravated assault and aggravated assault on a police officer.